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Tom Cruise will play Carroll Shelby

30 October, 2013 |
by Vijay Pattni

News has reached TG that our good friend Tom Cruise – the same man who got our little Cee’d up onto two wheels – will play the late, great Carroll Shelby in a movie adaption of A.J. Baime’s book Go Like Hell.

This is good news, and we’re going to shamelessly take the credit for Cruise’s return to car racing movies. For while he’s not made one since 1990′s Days of Thunder, it was clearly his time spent with Mr Stig on TG telly (above) that reignited his desire to don the racing overalls. Ahem.

Anyway, the book documents Ford’s entrance into the European car racing scene in the 1960s when Shelby, along with Henry Ford II and Lee Lacocca did the unthinkable and took on Enzo on his own terms.

Obviously, you’ll remember the legend: Ford was on the brink of buying Ferrari back in the 1960s when unexpectedly and in the 11th hour, Enzo pulled out of the deal. Ford, enraged, vowed revenge on the racetrack – that most hallowed of turf for Enzo – and enlisted the help of Shelby to reconfigure the mighty GT40 and win at Le Mans.

Shelby himself was no stranger to the circuit either, taking the overall crown at La Sarthe in 1959 behind the wheel of the gorgeous Aston Martin DBR1 alongside Roy Salvadori, and he brought with him years of racing pedigree.

The movie will reteam Cruise with the director of his most recent film Oblivion, produced by Fox, who have been reportedly trying to get this movie off the ground since 2011; back then, Heat director Michael Mann was attached with Brad Pitt as a potential lead.

Which begs the question: is Cruise the right choice for the great Shelby? He can certainly drive, anyway…

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